Friday, February 24, 2017

Border Security Force (BSF) told the Delhi High Court that the allegation of one of its jawans on social media regarding poor quality food being served to its troopers posted along the LoC was false as no complaint was ever made.

On thursday, in an affidavit filed by the BSF said, that soon after the video went viral on social media, senior officials visited the concerned battalion, but no complaint regarding poor food was brought to their notice.

Brushing aside allegations levelled by the Jawan, the BSF said a very transparent system was in place to ensure quality diet for the troopers since their health and safety is a prime responsibility. It also said, a detailed Staff Court of Inquiry has been ordered to enquire into the allegations made by the jawan through video and same has been concluded and further action will be taken in accordance with the law.

The BSF response came in the backdrop of a PIL seeking direction to MHA to submit a status report with respect quality of food supplied to all paramilitary forces in India.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today left for London to represent the Indian government at a historic reception hosted by Queen Elizabeth II to launch the UK-India Year of Culture 2017. Bilateral talks with Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond are among the ministerial meetings on Jaitley’s agenda, during which a wide range of issues will be discussed. The extradition of embattled liquor baron, Vijay Mallya, from the UK to India may be among the topics that come up during the discussions. Mr Jaitley will also hold a series of meetings with UK-based investors and CEOs during the five-day visit.

On Sunday the Finance Minister will be the chief guest at a reception organised by the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, British Council and High Commission of India to celebrate UK India Year of Culture. Mr Jaitley will then attend the market opening ceremony of the London Stock Exchange on February 27 followed by a round-table with investors, issuers of Masala Bonds and tech experts, among others. He will then address CEOs and senior business leaders from the India-UK sphere at an event.

Uttar Pradesh, canvassing for fifth phase of assembly elections is in full swing. Star campaigners from all major political parties have very hectic schedule today in most of the poll bound districts. A total of 52 constituencies spread over 11 districts of Tarai and eastern regions of the state will go to poll on February 27.

Districts covered in this phase are Amethi, Sultanpur, Faizabad, Ambedkarnagar, Baharaich, Shravasti, Balrampur, Gonda, Basti, Siddharthnagar and Sant Kabir. A total of 618 candidates including 45 women are in the fray.

Our correspondent reports that with only two days are left for campaigning, all major political parties have put their maximum strengths to woo the voters. Rallies and public meetings are being addressed today by the leaders of different political parties.

The BJP has accused Samajwadi Party for weakening Lokayukta and other institutions meant to check corruption. Samajwadi Party President and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said in Faizabad that BJP was trying to ignore the issue of development in the campaigning. BJP leader and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be addressing his party’s Parivartan rally today at Gonda district. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will be addressing rallies at Baharaich, Basti and Balrampur districts.

BJP president Amit Shah will address public meetings at Azamgarh, Mau and Gorakhpur districts.BJP has expelled its 18 leaders and workers from Allahabad, Kaushambi, Ballia, Azamgarh Mau Basti and Deoria districts for their anti party activities.

The Election Commission has replaced district magistrates of three districts of Rampur, Jaunpur and Hamirpur. The Commission had received complaints against present incumbents about biased and partial working.

The Uttar Pradesh Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 612 out 617 candidates from 75 political parties, including 6 national parties, 4 state parties, 65 unrecognized parties and 220 independent candidates, who are contesting in the fifth phase of Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections to be held on 27Th February, 2017. The details of candidates who have not been analysed are given below:

Candidates with cases related to Crimes against Women:8 candidates have declared cases like assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty (Indian Penal Code Section-354), rape (IPC Section-376) and husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty (IPC Section-498A).

Party wise Candidates with Criminal Cases:21(41%) out of 51 candidates from Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP), 23 (45%) out of 51 candidates from Bahujan Samaj Party(BSP), 8 (27%) out of 30 candidates from Rashtriya Lok Dal(RLD),17(41%) out of 42 candidates from Samajwadi Party ( SP),3(21%) out of 14 candidates from Indian National Congress(INC), and 19(9%) out of 220 Independent candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

Party wise Candidates with Serious Criminal Cases: 19(37%) out of 51 candidates from BSP, 14 (28%) out of 51 candidates from BJP, 7 (23%) out of 30 candidates from RLD, 12(29%) out of 42 candidates from SP, 2 (14%) out of 14 candidates from INC and 17(8%) out of 220 Independent candidates have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

Red Alert Constituencies*: There are 22 constituencies in the fifth phase of Uttar Pradesh assembly elections having 3 or more candidates with declared criminal cases. *Red Alert Constituencies are those which have 3 or more candidates with criminal cases contesting elections.

Financial Background

Share of wealth among candidates : The share of wealth amongst the candidates contesting in the fifth phase of assembly elections Uttar Pradesh is as follows:

Value of assets (Rs.)

No. of candidates

Percentage of Candidates

Rs.5 cr and above

51

8%

Rs.2 crores to 5 crores

80

13%

Rs. 50 lakhs to 2 crores

102

17%

Rs.10 lakhs to 50 lakhs

195

32%

less than Rs. 10 lakhs

184

30%

Table: Share of wealth amongst contesting candidates

High asset candidates:The 3 richest candidates contesting in the fifth phase of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections are given below:

Crorepati Candidates: Out of the 612 candidates, 168 (27%) are crorepatis.

Party wise Crorepati Candidates:43(84%) out of 51 candidates from BSP, 38(75%) out of 51 candidates from BJP, 32 (76%) out of 42 candidates from SP, 7(50%)out of 14 candidates from INC, 9(30%) out of 30 candidates from RLD and 14(6%) out of 220 Independent candidates have declared assets worth more than Rs. 1 crore.

Average assets: The average of assets per candidate contesting in the fifth phase of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections is Rs 1.56 Crores.

Party wise average assets: Among major parties, the average assets per candidate for 14 INC candidates is Rs.4.40 crores, 51 BJP candidates is Rs 4.64 crores, 51 BSP candidates have average assets of Rs 4.16 crores, 42 SP candidates have average assets worth Rs 3.48 crores, 30 RLD candidates have average assets worth Rs 2.20 crores, and 220 Independent candidates have average assets of Rs. 44.96 lakhs.

Zero asset candidate: There are no candidates who have declared zero assets in their self sworn affidavits.

Low asset candidates: The three candidates with lowest assets (excluding candidate with zero asssets) are as follows:

Candidates who have not declared Income Tax Details*:365(60%) out of 612 candidates have not declared income tax details.

* Some candidates may be exempted from filing Income Tax Return

Candidates with high Assets who have not declared Income Tax Details*:18 candidates with assets worth more than Rs. 1 crore have not declared Income Tax details. The top three candidates with highest assets who have not declared their IT returns are as given below:

Table: Top three candidates with highest assets who have not declared ITR details

* Some candidates may be exempted from filing Income Tax Returns

Other Background Details

Education details of candidates: 266 (43%) candidates have declared their educational qualification to be between 5th and 12th, while 285 (47%) candidates have declared having an educational qualification of graduate or above. 38 candidates have declared themselves to be just literates and 9 candidates have declared to be illiterate.

Age details of candidates:429(70%) candidates have declared their age to be between 25 and 50 years while 181 (29.5%) candidates have declared their age to be between 51 and 80 years. 2 candidates have not disclosed their age details.

Gender details of candidates:43 (7%) female candidates are contesting in fifth phase of the Uttar Pradesh assembly election this year.

In India, few things open faster than colleges, but few sectors reform more slowly than higher education. Demographic changes, economic growth and integration into the global economy, the rising demand for higher education, and the increase in the number of private colleges have led to a massive expansion in Indian higher education. While challenges of access and cost have been long-standing, much of this expansion has been of dubious quality, the result of sustained and deep regulatory and governance failures.

This book analyses these and other complex challenges facing higher education in India, and suggests possible solutions to some of them. The contributors highlight a range of issues facing higher education today, through a deeply moving account of the decline of a college in north Bihar; discussions on the various types of post-secondary educational institutions—the research university, teaching colleges, and vocational training institutes; initiatives, such as community colleges, to address the problem of skill development in India; and the financing and governance of higher education in India.

Joining us as discussants will be Pankaj Chandra from Ahmedabad University, Apoorvanand Jha from the University of Delhi, Devesh Kapur from the University of Pennsylvania, and Pratap Bhanu Mehta from the Centre for Policy Research. The discussion will be moderated by Anubha Bhonsle from CNN News18.

India faces serious challenges in creating development processes that generate economic growth while being socially inclusive, ecologically sustainable, politically feasible, and in accordance with the Rule of Law. Equitable and efficient acquisition of land by the state for economic development projects, including infrastructure and industry, lies at the heart of these challenges. Simultaneously, securing constitutionally guaranteed land rights to the poorest and most vulnerable communities in India, especially the Scheduled Tribes, against the state and other dominant communities, has been considered crucial to their economic and social empowerment. Land is not only an important economic resource and source of livelihoods, it is also central to community identity, history and culture. Unsurprisingly then, throughout India, dispute over state acquisition of land that deprives people of their land rights spans various dimensions of economic, social, and political life. How do we mitigate this conflict?

The conference will feature the launch of the CPR Land Rights Initiative report on “Land Acquisition in India: A Review of Supreme Court cases from 1950-2016”, that attempts some preliminary answers to this question. Despite its persistent and polarising nature, the debate on land acquisition has been marked by a lack of systematic and comprehensive data in support of particular positions. Existing studies on land acquisition have tended to focus on particular issues, like compensation, or on particular conflicts, or have been otherwise limited in terms of geography and time. The CPR Land Rights Initiative Report is the first comprehensive country wide study of land acquisition disputes before the Supreme Court since India’s independence. The Report analyses these disputes along various metrics, such as public purpose, procedure for acquisition, compensation, pendency of claims, and tracks trends with respect to distribution of disputes across geography and time, and central and state laws. The Report findings will be discussed and debated by stakeholder representatives, including the government, lawyers, international development agencies, and civil society groups, as well as expert researchers from the fields of economics, sociology and political science, and law. Our previous seminar showcasing the first phase of this research can be accessed here.

The conference will also feature findings from an ongoing CPR and CMI research collaboration on “Land Rights and Inclusive Development in the Scheduled Areas”, that will describe the political economy of land rights in areas governed by the Fifth and Sixth Schedules of the Constitution, with particular focus on the states of Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Meghalaya. Representatives of community groups and civil society organisations will comment on these findings and highlight challenges, both individual and representative, faced by tribal populations in these four states.

A detailed agenda of the conference will be updated here. Please register at this link.